Monday, June 20, 2005

PBS and NPR budgets at stake

...In the next few days, the House of Representatives will vote on whether to slash funding for NPR and PBS. And tomorrow, before Congress votes, we'll present stacks and stacks of printed petitions and public comments to save public broadcasting. We'll be joined by members of Congress and the public TV and radio staff fighting for survival.

Over 817,000 people have signed the petition so far—simply incredible. But we want to present 1 million signatures to the press tomorrow, and we can do it with your help.

In all our years of online organizing, we've never heard of one million Americans signing a petition in a week, but we're within striking distance now.

Then please send this message on to your friends and colleagues—it'll take all of us pushing together to get to the 1 million mark.

Already, the public outcry has delayed the effort to eliminate funding entirely, but the proposed cuts would still cripple NPR and PBS. The cuts threaten programs like "All Things Considered," "NOW," "Sesame Street," "Fresh Air," "The Charlie Rose Show," and "Clifford the Big Red Dog." In an era of corporate media, public broadcasting is one of the last places you can find insightful journalism and educational content. Quality costs money, and corporate owners are too willing to sacrifice good programming to save a buck.

If the House passes these massive cuts, we'll fight to restore the funding when the Senate takes up public broadcasting. But even if we stop the House cuts, we'll need to make sure Senate Republicans don't try the same thing.

Together, we can stop the House from slashing NPR and PBS in the federal budget.